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GOP Abandoning Another Conservative?

According to Politico, “some Republicans are privately urging Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) to step down at the end of his term amid growing concerns that he can’t win reelection in 2010.” Are you f–ing kidding me? This story can’t be true.

The resurgence of Jim Bunning is one of the best things that has happened to the Republican Party over the past two years and he has a better chance of winning in the next election cycle than Senator Mitch McConnell had going into the 2008 elections. Yes, McConnell had more money, but he hurt himself by voting for the Bailout of Wall Street and was targeted by the left for defeat because of his leadership position. This story must be false.

Senator Bunning has had a resurgence over the past two years. Bunning dug in and fought against the Bush Administration, Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson, and member of the Republican Party who wanted to support the Bailout of Wall Street. Bunning’s staunch opposition to the so called Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) has earned him the respect and loyalty of fiscal conservatives.

One would think that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is fully supporting his colleague and friend Jim Bunning, yet the Politico story attempts to imply that McConnell is not supporting Bunning.

In another signal that the state GOP political establishment isn’t lining up behind Bunning, not a single member of McConnell’s 2008 reelection team has signed on to assist Bunning’s bid for a third term.

There is no way that Senator Mitch McConnell would abandon a friend in need. I refuse to believe that Leader McConnell would throw his good friend Jim Bunning under the bus so he could get a younger and more moderate Senator to Represent Kentucky.

One line of criticism for Bunning is the fact that he missed a few votes at the beginning of the new Congress. Seems like he has a good excuse and he told the Lousville Courier-Journal that

I have another life besides the U.S. Senate. My family is more important than the U.S. Senate. It always has been and always will be.

That answer should earn him votes in family friendly Kentucky.

Bunning didn’t get into the Hall of Fame by backing down and I don’t expect him to do so this time. Senator Jim Bunning stood up against President Bush when Bush was wrong. Bunning is exactly the type of Senator that Senate Repubican Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator John Cornyn of Texas need to defend. Any abandoning of the conservatives in cycle would be political treason.